Spectrometric and Photographic Analysis of a Laser-Produced Hydrogen Plasma.
Abstract
Light from a neodymium glass laser was focused in hydrogen gas at pressures from 20 mTorrs to 9.16 atm in order to produce optical breakdown. The forward scattered light from the breakdown region was spectrally analyzed with a grating spectrograph from 10,300 to 10,900 A. It was found that the spectral distributions exhibited no distinguishable frequency shift. However, the absorption of the laser light depended on frequency and gas pressure. The time dependence of the onset of absorption was determined by comparing the cell beam with a beam-splitted reference beam that bypassed the pressure cell. The light scattered at an angle of 90 was photographed with a high speed image converter camera in the framing mode. This revealed evidence of self-focusing during the time the laser light was on. The plasma parameters were calculated from the kinetic theory of ideal gases and the theory of ionized gases, assuming complete ionization. (Modified author abstract)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1973
- Accession Number
- AD0764496
Entities
People
- Kurt D. Wachsmuth
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School